Die agitating chance device



Dec. 5, 1967 A. STUBBMANN 3,356,369

DIE AGITATING CHANCE DEVICE Filed Jan. 22, 1965 3 Sheets-She t 1 INVENT ALBERT ST ANN BY K IJcLfl ii- 21%; f

ATTORN EYS Dec. 5, 1967 A. STUBBMANN DIE AGITATING CHANCE DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet Filed Jan. 22, 1965 I VE NTO R ALBERT STUBBMANN BY (WM/ k, firming/ $0175 ATTORNEYS United States Patent ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A game including a game board and an integrated chance indicator located centrally of the board. The game board has several open topped cups arranged in a chase pattern. The cups stand up from the board and are adapted to receive pegs. The progression of the pegs is controlled by the chance indicator. The chance indicator is a leaf spring having a flat span on which a die rests. Outwardly diverging legs unitary with the span extend downwardly from opposite edges of the span. The bottom ends of the legs rest upon a horizontal pan. A transparent cage is seated on the span and covers the die. The bottom end of the cage is open. The span has a snap-acting portion on which the die rests, so that when the cage is pressed to urge the span downwardly the bottom ends of the legs will spread apart to bow the span downwardly and flex the snap-acting portion downwardly so that when the cage is released the snap-acting portion will snap upwardly to tumble the die.

This invention relates to a game with a chance indicator and, more particularly, to a game incorporating a die throwing device.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide a new and improved chance indicator constituting a die throwing device which can be readily and attractively incorporated into a game of chance, which game will thereby amuse and entertain its players.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a chance indicator of the character described wherein the die is thrown in a novel and interesting manner, to wit, by a downward thrust by the hand of a player on a transparent cage within which the die is visible and captively located.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a chance indicator of the character described wherein a small movement and release of a die-containing cage engenders an overcenter snapping movement of a die throwing member sufiicient to randomly tumble the die whereby the chance indicator can be incorporated in a game board.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a chance indicator of the type described which is rugged in construction so that a game incorporating the same will yield long hours of play, which is few in number of parts, which is well suited to mass production techniques, and which thereby is economically saleable at a low cost.

In general, and in accordance with the teaching of the present invention, a chance indicator is provided which is readily incorporated into an amusement game for two or more players wherein an element of fortune is supplied by a throw of one or more dice. The chance indicator constitutes a die throwing device which includes a pellucid cage within which one or more dice are captively located and through which the throw of the dice is observable by the games players.

The pellucid cage has an open bottom end which i closed by a movable platform in the form of a broad resiliently bendable leaf spring having a snap acting portion, i.e., a cricket spring. The pellucid cage is carried by, i.e., rests upon, the cricket spring, and the cage and spring are maintained in said relationship by a base, which may ICC be the game board. The die normally freely lies upon a broad upper face of the cricket spring, within the transparent cage.

The cricket spring is conventional in the construction of its snap acting portion although its specific overall configuration and its incorporation into a die throwing device are unknown. The snap acting portion of said cricket spring is also known as a popper spring, a snap spring and a crowned spring in the art. Said cricket spring comprises two opposed downwardly diverging legs which are in one piece with and which support therebetween a broad substantially fiat span that constitutes the snap acting portion. An integral upwardly convex shallow crown, i.e., dome, is formed centrally on the span.

In the idle position of the die throwing device, the die rests freely (unconstrainedly) on top of the fiat span of the cricket spring and the bottom open end of the cage rests on the said span. When a downward thrust is applied to the cage, as by the hand of a player, the cricket spring is depressed, i.e., its diverging legs spread further outwardly and its span consequently bowed downwardly. When the downward bowing of the span has progressed to a certain curvature, the crown on the span loses its own independent configuration by snapping into a converse configuration so as to merge into the concave curvature of the bowed span. The snap of the crown emits a sharp report.

When the transparent cage is subsequently released as by the removal of the players hand therefrom, the cricket spring reverts to its, idle position, first by the legs and the span of the spring, respectively, contracting and flattening and second, when the span has flattened to a certain degree, by the crown snapping in the direction of the return movement of the span and from a configuration merged with that of the span to an upwardly convex shape. -When the cricket spring is flexed to its fully bowed position, the die freely resting thereon slides to the center of the span. When the spring is then released and returns to its idle position, the return snap of the crown forcefully throws the die ppwardly clear of the spring whereby the die is shaken and tumbled. When the die again lands on the spring, its upwardly turned face displays a value which represents an element of fortune for the player who has thrown the die. The upward snap of the crown emits a second sharp report.

Other objects of the present invention in part will be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.

The present invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the game with chance indicator hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims. I

'In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of the invention,

i FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a game incorporating the novel chance indicator;

- FIGS. 2 and 3 are fragmentary vertical cross-sectional views taken substantially along the lines, respectively, 2-2 and 3-3 of FIG. 1;

" FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 2 illustrating a step in the operation of the chance indicator and, in dot and dash lines, a throw of a die;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged three-quartered perspective view of a cricket spring which is a component of the chance indicator;

FIGS. 6-9 are side-to-side sectional views illustrating sequential positions of the cricket spring as it is flexed and then released; and

FIG. 10 is a top cricket spring.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference plan view of the transparent cage and numeral denotes a chance indicator incorporated into a game 12 suitable for play by two, three or more players.

The game 12 need only be described briefly as it provides a typical setting with which the chance indicator 10 is advantageously utilized. Said amusement game includes a game board 14 constituting a broad fiat paperboard base sheet 16 and a top cover sheet 18, the latter being fabricated from a synthetic resin. Said sheets have the same substantially square plan configuration and are interconnected at their peripheries as by glueing or heat and pressure lamination through a downwardly depending continuous peripheral flange 20 integral with the cover sheet 18. Inwardly of its periphery the base sheet is spaced from the cover sheet by an intermediate flat support sheet 22 and a fiat display panel 24. The display panel bears printed indieia thereon which are observable through the cover sheet 18, which is transparent.

The game board 14 further includes numerous uniform open-topped cups 26 molded in one piece with the cover sheet 18, the cups being internally configured to removably receive cylindrical pegs 28 which are part of the paraphernalia of the amusement game 12. When a peg is seated in any desired cup, an upper portion of the peg projects above the cup so that it can be readily gripped by a player. The bases of the cups 26 are coplanar with the plane of the cover sheet so that the cups are elevated from the game board.

The game 12 includes four home bases 30 on the game board 14, one for each of four players, radially inwardly extending lines of cups 26 underlaid by indicia 1, 2, 3 and 4 as at 32 on the display panel 24, and a chase track constituted by other cups 26 together with a continuous line and arrows on the display panel 24 as at 34. The foregoing as well as other indicia on the display panel designate the direction of movement of various pegs 28 which are assigned to various players.

The movement of a peg 28 into a cup 26 in the track and the number of cups along the track advanced by a peg is determined by the roll of a die 36, that is to say, by the number 38 displayed on the uppermost face 40 of a die after the same has been tumbled and come to rest. The die 36 is thrown by the chance indicator 10, of which it is a component.

The chance indicator 10, i.e., the die throwing device, is centrally located on the game board 14 and several of its parts are supported thereby.

The chance indicator includes a transparent generally cup-shaped imperforate cage 42 defining a sufiiciently large internal cavity for the die 36 to be tumbled. The cage 42, and therefore the major portion of the chance indicator 10, is disposed on the upper face of the game board 14. The cage has an open bottom end encircled by a radially outwardly protruding bottom rim 44. The cage is located and guided for vertical sliding movement toward and away from the base sheet by a circular upwardly converging collar 46, the collar being in one piece with the cover sheet 18. The collar defines an opening with a diameter slightly exceeding that of the wall of the cage so that the cage can slide up and down past the collar and so that upward movement of the'cage is limited by the rim 44 which has an external diameter larger than the opening formed by the collar.

Integral with the collar 46 is an annular downwardly facing shoulder 48 formed in the cover sheet 18 which shoulder seats and retains in place a shallow upwardly turned rectangular pan 50 centrally of the game board 14 under the cage 42. The pan has a flat floor 52 which lies centrally on the display panel 24 and a continuous up standing side wall 54, the upper edge of which fits in the shoulder 48.

A cricket spring 56 stands freely in the pan 50 and is thereby located centrally of the game board 14 directly under the transparent cage 42. The cricket spring is formed from flat sheet metal resilient stock and has a rectangular-in-plan arched configuration. More specifically, the cricket spring is all of one piece and includes two opposed downwardly and outwardly diverging like legs 58, 60 which support and are proximate to different opposite ends of a substantially flat horizontal square span 62. Each of the legs 58, 60 has a small outwardly protruding horizontal foot 64 which stands on the floor of the pan.

The span 62 of the cricket spring closes the bottom open end of the cage 42 and the cage is carried by and directly overlies the span. The cage is vertically centered on the span of the cricket spring and since the length of a side of the span is less than the diameter of the bottom open end of the cage 42, the bottom rim 44 of the cage cuts across the four corners of the span (see FIG. 10).

The span 62 has centered thereon and integral therewith an upwardly convex shallow circular crown (shallow dome) 66 that is smaller in plan than the span, and on opposed sides of the crown and spaced therefrom are two outwardly diverging triangular shallow depressions 63, such crown and depressions being conventional to and characteristic of a cricket (snap action) spring. The span 62, crown 66 and depressions 63 jointly constitute the snap action portion of said spring.

A conventional six-faced number-bearing die 36 loosely and freely rests upon and is supported by the span 62 when the spring is in its idle (repose) position and is displaced to one side thereof against the wall of the cage by the crown 66 (see FIGS. 2 and 3). The die is thereby captively held yet freely located within the cage and is observable therethrough from all sides of the game board 14. In a similar manner, two or more dice can be located within the cage, if so desired.

It is thus seen that the span 62 acts as a platform which supports both the cage 42 and the die 36. Said platform is biased upwardly by the legs 58, 60 of the spring 56 so as to hold the rim of the cage against the collar 46 in the idle position of the chance device.

Turning, then, to the operation of the present invention, in the idle position of the chance indicator 10 the cricket spring 56 is fully arched or erect with the die 36 freely non-constrainedly lying thereon and set off to one side by the raised crown 66 on the flat span 62 of the spring. The cricket spring also supports the transparent cage 42, holding the same vertically away from the base sheet 16 so that the rim 44 of the cage abuts the collar 46 of the cover sheet 18. The idle position of the chance indicator is illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, and the idle stance of the cricket spring 56 is illustrated in FIGS. 5, 6 and 10.

The chance indicator is actuated by a downward thrust on the flat top of the pellucid cage by the hand of a player who is currently taking his turn at a throw of the die during the course of playing the game. The collar 46 guides the cage in its downward movement and as the cage moves downwardly, the rim 44 of the cage transmits to the cricket spring the downward force applied to the cage.

Said downward force indicated by the arrows A in FIGS. 7 and 8 flexes the cricket spring from its idle position (FIG. 6) to a position wherein its legs 58, 60 have slid on the floor 52 of the pan and spread further apart and the outward rotation of the legs has exerted torque couples on both sides of the span 62, so that the span begins to bow downwardly (FIG. 7) in the direction B of initial movement of the span 62 of the cricket spring which is also the-direction of initial movement of the transparent cage 42. When the cricket spring has been depressed, so that its legs are spread outwardly and its span bowed downwardly to a certain extent, the crown 66 on the span, initially upwardly convex or arched in a direction opposite to the direction B of initial movement of the spring, snaps, i.e., rapidly moves, said direction B of initial movement and thereupon reverses its configuration to flowingly merge into the downwardly bowed curvature of the span (see (FIG. 8). When the crown is curved downwardly so as to merge into the bowed confiuration of the remainder of the span, the depressions 63 also sub stantially merge into the same configuration and a further stress is imposed thereon which is concentrated at the apices of the depressions adjacent the depressed crown. The snapping movement of the crown engenders a sharp audible report which adds an aural dimension to the playing of the game and which attracts the attention of the other players. In this downwardly bowed configuration of the spring, the die 36 slides along the inclined surface of the spring to the depressed center thereof (see FIG. 4).

After the cage has been depressed by the hand of a player, his hand is removed, releasing the cage and thereby permitting the spring 56 to revert to its idle position.

As the cricket spring returns to its idle position, its legs 58, 60 draw back to their initial idle stance raising the height of the span and lifting the cage 42 to its initial position with the rim 44 of the cage abutting the collar 46. The collar also guides the cage in its return movement.

As the span 62 reaches approximately its original flat condition (see FIG. 9) the internal stress in the span created by the depressed crown 66 is exerted on the periphery of the crown in a. sufiicient force to cook the crown for snapping or popping convexly upwardly. At this time the stresses at the apices of the depressions 63 are sufficiently great to trigger the cocked crown for snapping upward movement. That is to say, the crown is triggered into sudden return movement by the depression 63 and is thereby rapidly thrust in the direction C of return movement of the span to regain its original configuration protruding upwardly from the remainder of the span. This second snapping movement of the crown also issues a loud sharp report.

The return movement of the spring has carried with it the die 36 resting thereon and the last snap of the crown throws the die randomly upwardly but containedly within the cage so that it is tumbled. The die subsequently falls and comes to rest on the span with any one face fortuitously facing upwardly. The die can be observed through the transparent cage and the numeral on said face supplies an element of chance to the player who is taking his turn and controls the movements of his pegs into various cups 26 along the track on the game board.

As has been seen, the die throwing device has been actuated solely by relatively short reciprocal movements of the cage. Relatively short downward movement of the cage cocks the cricket spring, i.e., reverses the curvature of the crown, and release of the cage by removal of the players hand allows the crown to pop upwardly and toss the die into the cavity of the cage. The players can Watch the tumbling movement of the die as soon as the hand of the player taking his turn is removed from the cage.

It thus will be seen that I have provided a device which achieves the several objects of my invention and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described the invention, there is claimed 6 as new and useful, and is desired to be secured by Letters Patent:

1. A chance indicator including :a flat floor which is horizontal when the chance indicator is in use, a leaf spring including a rectangular, broad, substantially flat span having a snap-acting portion, two opposed downwardly diverging broad legs in one piece with opposite edges of the span whereby when the lower ends of the legs are spread apart the span is bowed downwardly, the lower ends of said legs being supported on the flat floor whereby when the span is pressed downwardly the lower ends of the legs are spread apart and cause the span to bow downwardly, said snap-acting portion being constructed to snap downwardly when the span bows downwardly and to snap upwardly when downward pressure is removed from the span, said legs being of equal length and diverging downwardly in a like manner so that the span is supported in a horizontal position on the flat floor by the legs, a die resting on the snap-acting portion and a transparent open bottomed cage supported on the span over the die so that the die is viewable therethrough, said cage being sufficiently large to permit the die normally to freely lie upon the snap-acting portion of the spring and to be tumbled within the cage by the upward snap of the snap-acting portion, and means mounting the cage for movement perpendicular to the flat floor so that downward force manually applied to the cage moves the cage and the span of the spring from its rest position to a position in which the span is bowed downwardly, whereby upon subsequent release of the cage the snap-acting portion snaps upwardly to tumble the die.

2. A chance indicator as set forth in claim 1 wherein the snap-acting portion includes a shallow upwardly convex crown located centrally of the span.

3. A chance indicator as set forth in claim 2 wherein the snap-acting portion further includes two shallow triangular depressions in the edges of the span and located away from the legs, the bases of the triangles being at the edges of the span.

4. A chance indicator as set forth in claim 2 wherein the lower ends of the legs have outwardly protruding feet.

5. A chance indicator as set forth in claim 2 wherein the cage is of circular configuration in plan and wherein the cage rests on the corners of the span.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 503,403 8/ 1893 Brin'kman 273-145 1,766,134 6/ 1930 Lauterbach 273-145 1,474,504 11/ 1923 Allen 273-131 1,966,793 7/ 1934 Fuller 273-131 3,111,321 11/1963 Horrnann 273-136 3,208,751 9/ 1965 Kostka 273- FOREIGN PATENTS 602,306 12/ 1925 France.

361,654 11/ 1931 Great Britain.

625,381 6/ 1949 Great Britain.

606,406 8/1948 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES Schmidt, Fr. Paul: German DAS 1,075,478, pub. Feb. 11, 1960.

DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner. 

1. A CHANCE INDICATOR INCLUDING A FLAT FLOOR WHICH IS HORIZONTAL WHEN THE CHANCE INDICATOR IS IN USE, A LEAF SPRING INCLUDING A RECTANGULAR, BOARD, SUBSTANTIALLY FLAT SPAN HAVING A SNAP-ACTION PORTION, TWO OPPOSED DOWNWARDLY DIVERGING BROAD LEGS IN ONE PIECE WITH OPPOSITE EDGES OF THE SPAN WHEREBY WHEN THE LOWER ENDS OF THE LEGS ARE SPREAD APART THE SPAN IS BOWED DOWNWARDLY, THE LOWER ENDS OF SAID LEGS BEING SUPPORTED ON THE FLAT FLOOR WHEREBY WHEN THE SPAN IS PRESSED DOWNWARDLY THE LOWER ENDS OF THE LEGS ARE SPREAD APART AND CAUSE THE SPAN TO BOW DOWNWARDLY, SAID SNAP-ACTING PORTION BEING CONSTRUCTED TO SNAP DOWNWARDLY WHEN THE SPAN BOWS DOWNWARDLY AND TO SNAP UPWARDLY WHEN DOWNWARDLY PRESSURE IS REMOVED FROM THE SPAN, SAID LEGS BEING OF EQUAL LENGTH AND DIVERGING DOWNWARDLY IN A LIKE MANNER SO THAT THE SPAN IS SUPPORTED IN A HORIZONTAL POSITION ON THE FLAT FLOOR BY THE LEGS, A DIE RESTING ON THE SNAP-ACTING PORTION AND A TRANSPARENT OPEN BOTTOM CAGE SUPPORTED ON THE SPAN OVER THE DIE SO THAT THE DIE IS VIEWABLE THERETHROUGH, SAID CAGE BEING SUFFICIENTLY LARGE TO VIEWABLE THERETHROUGH, SAID TO FREELY LIE UPON THE SNAP-ACTING PORTION OF THE SPRING AND TO BE TUMBLED WITHIN THE CAGE BY THE UPWARD SNAP OF THE SNAP-ACTING PORTION, AND MEANS MOUNTING THE CAGE FOR MOVEMENT PREPENDICULAR TO THE FLAT FLOOR SO THAT DOWNWARD FORCE MANUALLY APPLIED TO THE CAGE MOVES THE CAGE AND THE SPAN OF THE SPRING FROM ITS REST POSITION TO A POSITION IN WHICH THE SPAN IS BOWED DOWNWARDLY, WHEREBY UPON SUBSEQUENT RELEASE OF THE CAGE THE SNAP-ACTING PORTION SNAPS UPWARDLY TO TUMBLE THE DIE. 